The lost cottages of Hardy ……………. the lonely outposts of Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Now I am returning to the story of the lost cottages of Hardy, which was the furthermost out post of Chorlton, hard up against the River Mersey.

Typical Chorlton cottages

Just how many people lived in the stretch of land roughly from Hardy Farm to the river crossing at Jackson’s Boat is difficult to estimate.

Thomas Elwood, writing in 1885, records that,  “The hamlet of Hardy consisted of groups of cottages between Hardy Farm and Jackson’s Boat, the last of which were taken down shortly after the flood of 1854, when the meadows were flooded to a depth of three feet.  

These ancient cottages were situated on an eminence at the extreme end of Hardy Lane and were occupied by John Marsland and John Burgess”. *

Hardy in 1854, with the cottage east if Hardy Farm

A search of the maps of the mid-19th century show the cottages just east of Hardy Farm and an earlier map dating from 1830 shows three properties, one of which is at the end of the lane running to the river crossing.

But despite knowing the names of two of the occupants, the historic records have yielded few details.  Neither John Marsland or John Burgess, show up in the rate books for the period up to 1854, and there is an ominous silence in the rate records for any properties other than Hardy Farm.

That said both men and their families were living in Chorlton in 1841 and 1851 and are recorded beside each other and close to Hardy Farm.

Hardy in 1830

So that I think places them in the hamlet in the early 1840s.

Leaving just the mystery that only one property is mentioned in the tithe records for 1845, east of Hardy Farm.  It belonged to the Egerton’s and was part of the land and buildings rented from the Egerton’s by Samuel Dean who lived in the much grander Barlow Hall Farm.

All of which does rather seem very pedantic.

But I remain fascinated by those cottages and the people who lived there.

Both Mr. Marsland and Mr. Burgess were agricultural workers and given that their homes were part of Samuel Dean’s portfolio of houses and land, I guess they worked for him, and in 1851, Charles Marsland was listed as a farm servant living at Barlow Hall Farm.

The census returns also give a clue to just how long the Marsland family had lived in the cottage, because none of their children were born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy.  In 1841 Charles who was the youngest, was fifteen years old and had been born in Sale.  Nor were the Burgess family from Chorlton, which suggests they were part of that huge group of agricultural workers who moved around looking for work.

Wattle and daub Cottages

Hardy would have been a pretty remote spot, with the village with its church and two pubs a full fifteen minutes’ walk away, and nothing in either direction save the river, Hardy Farm, and of course the pub over the water at Jackson’s Boat.

Their homes would have been made of wattle and daub, which would have rendered them no match for those floods of 1854, which is where I shall leave the lost cottages.

Location; Hardy

Pictures; Chorlton cottages, drawn by Bari Sparshot from original old photographs, map of Hardy in 1854, from the OS for Lancashire, 1854, and Hennet’s map of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1830, courtesy of Digital Archives Association

*Elwood, Thomas, Chapter 1, The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, November 7, 1885